Yeah, it's a little late to be worrying about privacy and governments, when you did everything possible to weaken privacy and consumer/user protections when it served your interest.

Simple.. Cost reasons.

And its justifiable (to management) when you only want/need a code monkey rather than an artist. And they (H1B) are more willing to put up with crap hours and pay (vs. domestic counterparts will fight that).

In short, its because, what its always been about.. Money..
Not skills/ability.

The problem is, many/most people believe in the presumption of innocence and that if you are innocent you have nothing to fear. (its the reason why they are not concerned with the invasion of privacy by the police and other government agencies, in their mind, since they are "innocent" they have nothing to fear and only the "bad guys" will be impacted by this. But the reality is, the system wants its piece of meat in whatever way it can get. It doesn't love the hunt, in fact it HATES the hunt.. so anything that can make their "job" easier they are all for, even when it catches innocent people. It views them as "necessary causalities". And if you don't have the resources to defend yourself, well.... it sucks to be you!

Correct, the police in this case acted like the "Loss Prevention" team of the bank. Did ZERO verification of the data, did ZERO conformation. They only acted like the bank's attack dogs. Here a picture, go fetch!

Does that really matter?.

The point is, how he's in their system.. and with the police, once you are IN the system, your name and details pop up every-time they sneeze for any crimes in the region and for almost any reason. (someone burgled a bank, lets also toss this Pastor in the mix). That information is not purged from their records.

Also it means if he wants to immigrate, he now has to spend extra time/money on getting a clearance report and while that can be obtained, it puts you on the bottom rung for other countries accepting your application. (which means you have to be 20 times better than the average to compensate for this)

The fact that he was or was not put into a cell doesn't really matter, the real damage has already been done.

Oil and Coal industries..

In fact, all the battles over solar have been pretty much sponsored by oil/gas/coal companies not wanting competition (understandable since the source is "free", so outside of the initial implementation, no one needs them).

I promise you, the day they figure out a way to charge for solar rays is the day they go whole hog for solar.

That's just not true.. no one (at least in appreciable numbers) buys US made pickup trucks overseas in general.. so the demand is low.. the US makes most of the vehicles for the north American market (NAFTA anyone?) but outside of that, most countries build their own as its a utility vehicle that has brand association.

And most of the trucks in the US are not technically imported, they are assembled in Canada/Mexico and the US (either through part replacement schemes, cab shipments, or kits), which classifies them as an American vehicle (ie no import tariffs). But this hurts no one but the consumer since those that don't want to even bother with the hassle they just don't sell them to the US.. (which basically means the US market is a US ONLY market which keeps the prices high because they have zero competition or even incentive to make a better product). Or to put it another way, its a geopolitical monopoly.. and we all know monopolies can be good, but are usually bad because the audience is captive.

Slight Correction.. China wants your code so they can use it to improve their own code and leapfrog.. and in the meantime.. sell it to fund the R&D.

That is more accurate. China doesn't want other's code.. what they want is a deeper understanding so they can replicate and improve.

You do realize that they don't manipulate their currency right?.. that has been proven many MANY times over.

  And its not a matter of respecting IP that's the issue.. The larger cause for concern is basically an espionage group having the ability to review and possibly steal/alter code. IP is stolen all the time.. (from everyone)..

And a blanket embargo won't do anything other than make the local citizens hurt.. (its not like wages rise as fast as COL).. And salaries have been depressed for the last 30 years.

Actually most if not all the people coming in to Europe HAVE skills and WANT to work.. but entry into the country does not include an automatic admission to the job pool.. So most are barred from working because of OTHER regulations.. so the people coming in are trapped in a "yes you can come in a look, but no touch!". that is the issue. So if they have no way to improve (learning a language takes either time or money, and most often both) then add on top of that, a lot of xenophobic attitudes (like you are espousing).. and its a recipe for pain.

You do realize they use words like "Sex trafficking" as inflammatory rhetoric to goad people. It tends to conjure up images of women (and sometimes boys) in incapacitated by various means and used for the pure purpose of sex.. when in reality, 99% of the time, its just pure regular prostitution initiated by the women themselves as a source of revenue. Are there sex traffickers?.. well, that depends on your definition of sex trafficking in the first place.

The term is most often used when it crosses state/county/city jurisdiction for the purposes of sex.. Your own self can be accused of sex trafficking by crossing state/county/city boundaries for the purpose of sex. Heck, there are still laws on the books that ANY interracial couple (married or not) that crosses state/city/county boundaries can be accused of sex trafficking.

So are there problems?.. Of course.. (much of which can be alleviated legalization and moving it into the light as opposed to driving it further underground, which means victims have no one to turn to when there are problems.) But that of course, requires everyone to be an adult and stop attempting to be the moral police and let people use their own bodies in their OWN way.

Also the problem is, you are forgetting.. more choice = more complexity = more expenses. Hence why they want to have a very limited number of plans. It reduces many of the problems of "which plan covers what". And its NOT just about you, but rather the mandate insures that EVERYONE gets coverage by increasing the pool of money available.

Plus also as a single payer, you have unlimited bargaining rights with prices, drugs, etc.. which lowers costs overall.

A lot of people like to assume that single payer means "all insurance companies go bye bye" and the federal government is now the insurer.. And that may be true for lower economic brackets.. but the reality is, it would be the safety net everyone wants (real safety net) and then those that want to pay more for better quality/service.. can cheerfully do so.. (sort of like the bus ride vs. a car.. you are poor and have few options.. the bus it is.. but if you can afford it (because of the all the benefits it has to you), you can obtain a car.

Personally the federal government does a good job at health care when its universal.. they spend more money and time working on "you don't quality" than just simply saying, any legal citizen has health care.. done. (it would save a substantial amount of money because the various pools (and overhead) are streamlined into a single entity.. Everything else is private, and that's between you and the provider.

A lot people like to assume that if you build a better mouse trap, it will win.. and for a lot of tech, that's true.. mostly because there are no political/economic forces rooting either way.

Electric vs. Gas has a LARGE political and economic cheering section (mostly on gas) because it would change the political landscape.

Look at some countries.. their entire economy depends on oil/gas production/reserves.. you don';t think that plays into things?.. Look at the amount of money oil/gas pump into politics for their preferred agenda... you don't think that has an impact.

Car manufactures in some ways, don't care either way.. Its a sale to them (oil or gas).. but they are "encouraged" to push gas/petrol powered cars.. its why Biofuels haven't taken off, or cooking oil or any of the hundreds of alternatives besides electric.. Because it cuts into the profits of the oil/gas groups and their political affiliates.

Electric theoretically would mean with improvements in solar cells, you could have car that would run indefinitely (no stopping required unless you do a LOT of night only driving) but that also means, no dependance on an industry that is fighting tooth and nail to remain in control and where they are.

I say this as someone that's worked for and with numerous petrol companies.. and if you only knew the amount of money that gets pumped into politics to keep things exactly as they are.. you would understand why things have not (and most likely won't) changed.

Still better than basic economy.